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“Where you want to spend the next four days. Any place in the world. Name it and I’ll take you there.”
My heart skipped a beat but then I laughed because my answer was undoubtedly going to have him making fun of me like he did with my birthday wish. “I just want to go home, Mason.”
“Really?” He looked mildly disappointed. “I’ll take you anywhere, Taylor. I’ll take you to fucking Disneyland if you want. I’ll hate every second of it but if that’s where you want to be, I’ll go there with you.”
My lips spread in a big grin. “No. I just want to be home.”
“Can I ask why?”
My gaze floated away as I thought about it. “I don’t know, I just… want to clean my slate and begin my new chapter, and I can’t do that if I’m still lounging on some beach somewhere. I have to be home so I know whatever good I’m feeling isn’t a false start. I want to know that it’s real.”
The humor faded from Mason’s blue eyes as he studied me. Holding my jaw, he tipped my face up, taking another moment to soak me in before surprising me with a kiss. I closed my eyes and just breathed him, so in love with how I felt in his arms, able to touch him, taste him, smell him. I didn’t think the moment could get any better but when he pulled away, Mason gave me that crooked smile. “You know it’s real, right?” he asked in a low murmur.
I blinked, knowing well that we weren’t talking about the same topic anymore. I told myself not to ruin the moment by being explicit, but I couldn’t help myself. “You and me?”
“Yes,” he answered too quickly for me to entertain even the slightest shred of doubt. “I think you figured it out awhile ago but I figure it wouldn’t hurt to be up front about it,” he smiled. “Especially since I’m about to ask you to spend the next four days at my apartment. I know you want to get back to the real world but it’s going to be fucking cold once we get back to New York, and I have no intention of telling the office that I’m available yet. So come home with me.” Mason threaded his fingers through my hair, pressing another sweet kiss to my mouth. “Please. We can be real at my house, I promise.”
God. How could I possibly say no to that?
“Okay,” I whispered. “Then we’ll go to your house,” I said – and as evenly as I could for a girl whose heart was about to burst.
*
I was first out as the doors opened for us to exit the aircraft. The instant gust of bitter cold that slapped my face made it seem like the New York winter was eager to bring me down. But nothing could bring me down right now. I toppled a bit in my heels but grabbed the railing as I made my way down the short flight of stairs and onto the tarmac, well prepared for the weather this time in my long coat and thick scarf. But my gloves were somewhere in my luggage so I stuck my hands into my pockets to warm them, forgetting I’d stuffed my phone into the left side. Upon making contact, it buzzed in my hand.
Really? I hadn’t planned on looking at my phone till I got home. Something told me I’d have to deal with some long, mopey speech from Aaron – either that or an insane guilt trip about how I ruined his wedding and how karma would get me. I had already mapped out a dozen different directions in which his inevitable message could go, so I was fairly certain that I was prepared for whatever he had in store for me. But considering how many times I’d been proved wrong in just a matter of weeks, I should’ve known I was by no means prepared for what he had to say.
Not by a long shot.
Looking at the screen, I confirmed Aaron’s message. I told myself I’d just peek at the text without reading it all, but then it started with pictures. Four of them. One being an electronic receipt. Three being images so explicit my stomach instantly turned and I wanted to smash my phone onto the floor. I should have too, but I chose instead to torture myself further, reading the message Aaron had sent at some point during my flight home.
It was so far from what I expected.
It wasn’t long. And it wasn’t bitter or depressed or laced with insults. It was just facts – cold hard facts that were so impossible to deny that my thumping heart started battering my insides, throttling my brain with dreadful realization, making me feel horrifically bruised all over.
Fuck.
No, no, no, please don’t let it be true.
I pressed my hand hard over my mouth because if I didn’t, I’d scream. Even as I shut myself up, I wanted to bite my own fingers and let it all out because suddenly, the haunting was back. Those old regrets were back, stronger than ever and joined now by a heartbreak worse than the one Aaron subjected me to because this time, the lie had come from the man I was sure had just healed me – the man who was supposed to help me turn the page to my next chapter.
Goddamnit, Mason.
I burst into tears the second I saw him emerge from the jet. Catching them immediately, his smile for me dropped like a brick and his step quickened down the stairs to catch up as I turned and strode furiously away, looking for the path to lead me into the airport and maybe onto another plane where I could fly away from everyone.
“Taylor!”
Mason called behind me, his voice sharp with nothing but concern. Appropriate, considering my anguish had only to do with him – and not just my anguish in this moment but every moment I’d experienced in the past two years. It was all on him.
“Taylor, stop! Where are you going?”
“Far away from you,” I replied between my teeth.
“What are you talking about? Hey!” His footsteps closed in on me. “Taylor!” He caught my arm and spun me around to face him, the tip of his nose red from the cold, his eyes ablaze as he studied me urgently
. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded, the fog of his breath dancing in the frigid air. “Tell me, Taylor!”
“You tell me!” I hissed, jerking my arm out of his grip, my frantic eyes searching his face for something I’d missed – some sign of deceit that I’d just blissfully ignored. But there was nothing. He was still breathtaking and beautiful and it only made the hurt a million times worse. “You know what, Mason – fine. I’ll tell you since clearly, you have some issues with honesty!” His jaw went tight and when he didn’t protest, I knew I was onto something. “It wasn’t Aaron that night,” I whispered, watching all forms of expression fall from Mason’s face. Damn it. I had all the evidence in my hands but it wasn’t till he looked at me with shame that I knew it was true. “You know what night I’m talking about. He said he was going to cheat on me. I tried to track him down all over the city and I couldn’t find him or stop him so I found Sofia and we drank till I could forget it. And I made myself so sick she got scared and she needed someone to come help. I thought it was him – for two fucking years, I knew in my heart that Aaron didn’t cheat on me that night because instead, he came to save me. Because he loved me. I was in so much pain that night and I was so goddamned stupid for drinking that much, but I thought it was somehow worth it because of how Aaron came to prove himself to me. I thought it was worth it for how much stronger we came back as a couple after that night,” I cried, my tears freezing against my cheeks as the brutal winds whipped my hair against my face. It felt like glass slicing my skin but I paid it no mind as my eyes burned like fire into Mason’s. “But it wasn’t him that night, was it?” My teeth rattled in my skull as I stared at Mason shaking his head. “Just fucking say it, Mason!”
